Earlier this month, Keep America Beautiful affiliate Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful received the D. Scott Hudgens Humanitarian Award the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce’s 66th Annual Dinner, attended by more than 1,000 local business and community leaders. Presented by Gwinnett Medical Center, the event is designed to highlight Gwinnett’s successes and recognize those who have made a difference in the community in recent years.

“Each year, the D. Scott Hudgens Humanitarian Award is presented to the charitable institution best embodying the spirit of compassion and generosity to which the late Scott Hudgens was so deeply committed,” explains Connie Wiggins, Executive Director of Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. “It is such an unbelievable honor for our organization to receive an award that signifies that same sense of community and philanthropy for which Scott Hudgens and his family have always been dedicated. At Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, we do what we do each day in an effort to make Gwinnett County America’s cleanest, greenest and most livable community. But we could never do that without the tireless conviction and dedication of our board members, volunteers, community partners and staff. This award belongs to us all.”

Over the course of 2013, the community-based, environmentally-focused nonprofit organization accomplished the following feats with the help of its growing network of volunteers, community allies, and corporate partners:

Educated more than 111,000 students and trained more than 15,500 teachers to foster a new generation of environmental stewards

Raised the awareness and environmental knowledge of nearly 400,000 Gwinnett County residents

“We’ve already hit the ground running in 2014,” insists Wiggins. “We recently had the pleasure of honoring environmental stewards and our cherished volunteers during the 34th Annual Awards Dinner. We just hosted one of the largest Christmas tree recycling events where we were responsible for an estimated one out of every five trees recycled in the state of Georgia. And now, we are feverishly planning for what will likely be our biggest event for the year – the Environmental Address on March 6 featuring Governor Nathan Deal.”

Beyond the Address, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful will also play host to a county-wide Great American Cleanup event – which runs March 1 through May 31, 2014, and the annual America Recycles Day in the Fall. Additional beautification projects and events will be scheduled throughout the year, and citizens who wish to take part are encouraged to check the event calendar regularly for upcoming dates. In addition to events, the organization is hoping to unveil a new website to better communicate its mission to educate, advocate and equip the residents and business owners of Gwinnett County.